Kevin Durant Masked Many of the Rockets' Issues This Season

Kevin Durant's first season with the Houston Rockets went much better than his final season with the Phoenix Suns. Or his final full season with the Brooklyn Nets.

In both cases, Durant and his respective ball clubs didn't experience any postseason success. Not even any semblance of it.

The Suns failed to reach even the play-in tournament and the Nets got swept in the first round of the playoffs. In both cases, Durant played less than 65 games.

Durant played 62 games last season in Phoenix and 55 games in the 2021-22 season in Brooklyn. This season, Durant played 78 games with the Rockets, his most in the last seven years (dating back to the 2018-19 season, which was Durant's last season with the Golden State Warriors).

Durant did play 75 games with the Phoenix Suns in 2023-24, however. The Rockets won 52 games and finished with the fifth seed in the Western Conference.

For his part, Durant averaged 26 points, 5.5 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 52 percent from the field, 41.3 percent from long-range, 58.8 percent effective shooting and 64.1 percent true shooting, while playing the second most minutes in the league and the third-most minutes per night, behind just Amen Thompson.

Durant also made 57.2 percent of his two-pointers and 87.4 percent of his free throws. Durant bailed the Rockets out time and time again, possession after possession. Late in the shot clock, Durant would oftentimes let off a low percentage shot and hit back iron.

Durant did a little bit of everything for the Rockets, as explained by Rockets coach Ime Udoka, while speaking to Brandon Robinson, also known as Scoop B.

“The fact that he can screen and people won’t leave his body allows guys to free up to get downhill or him handling or post up iso and he can do all the above.”

Udoka continued.

"He can handle it, or he can post up ISO, and he can do all the above. He’s done it his whole career… you’re going to get a quality shot or he’s going to get a quality shot for somebody else."

The Rockets relied heavily on Durant. Likely more than they anticipated, especially as the season progressed.

Much of this was due to injury. Some of it was due to a lack of roster depth.

Durant helped mask the Rockets' lack of outside shooting, as he was Houston's best long-range shooter. He also helped to mask Houston's lack of offense far too often.

Moving forward, the Rockets will need to add a proven offensive mind to Udoka’s coaching staff. It would also help if the team added more offensive firepower.

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